Cisco and FOSS (was Re: Modem Router)

[Dave Hall]

On Sun, 2009-09-13 at 18:06 +1000, Daniel Mons wrote:
> Dave Hall wrote:
> > Sorry, but I think it is you who is relying on out of date information.
> > Here is a list of FOSS unfriendly things Linksys has done in recent
> > years.
> > 
> > * Made the webgui for some of their mid range managed switches IE only.
> > http://davehall.com.au/blog/dave/2007/12/07/linksys-will-fix-srw224g4-firmware-eventually (this has never been fixed)
> 
> 2007.  Not out of date at all...

No it isn't out of date.  As of 6 months ago Linksys was still claiming
"we're working on it, sorry still no ETA".  Next it will be "oh sorry
that is EOLd".

> 
> > 
> > * Only legal action by the FSF for GPL violations got Cisco/Linksys to
> > comply with the GPL
> > http://www.fsf.org/news/2009-05-cisco-settlement.html
> 
> See my previous post.  Cisco now have a full time employee dedicated to
> FOSS compliance.  You seem to be focussing entirely on one side of that
> story.

It wasn't the first time Cisco was caught with their pants down.  The
person's job probably involves uploading tarball and reading /.


> The FOSS community needs to focus on education, and not finding enemies
> under every rock.  I'll be the first to stand up and say I don't like
> Cisco products at all from a technical standpoint.  But I will happily
> acknowledge their recent efforts to change their free software
> compliance efforts for the better.

Companies like Cisco and MS, don't hide under rocks, they have publicly
voiced their anti FOSS positions on many occasions.  

As a side note, it turns out the MS hyper V code drop for the kernel is
looking more like a dump and run job to avoid being slapped with a
copyright violation suit.  More info at
http://www.kroah.com/log/linux/staging-status-09-2009.html (search for
hv).

There are some companies that have successfully metamorphised into free
software companies - Sun is one example.  Sorry I just don't see Cisco
even attempting to make a real effort to be more FOSS friendly.

Cheers

Dave